Everything is on the line late this week when the Liverpool boys swim team defends its Section III Class A championship and George Falwell Cup at Nottingham High School.
The sectional meet takes place next Thursday morning, starting at 10:30 a.m., with the state qualifier two days later as the Falwell Cup is at stake.
Before all that, Liverpool had a chance to complete an undefeated (12-0) regular season when it hosted West Genesee Tuesday night, and it put together some spectacular efforts on the way to defeating the Wildcats 102-76.
And it was Julien Brownlow at the forefront, starting in the 200-yard medley relay, where he paired with Brandon Nguyen, Curtis Merrick and Griffin Merkling to go one minute, 41.36 seconds, just off the state qualifying standard of 1:40.67.
Moving on to the 50 freestyle, Brownlow went 22.36 seconds to beat Merkling (22.80) as Michael Piraino (25.25) completed a 1-2-3 Liverpool finish. Then, in the 100 freestyle, Brownlow won in 49.85 seconds, with Nguyen second in 50.82 seconds.
And to close this night, Brownlow, Merrick, Merkling and Nguyen paired up again in the 400 freeestyle relay and won that race in 3:24.52.
Merrick had his own big effort in the 100 butterfly, finishing first in 54.63 seconds, and nearly claimed the 100 backstroke, too, going 55.27 seconds, but edged out by Merkling’s 54.88 seconds as Kyle Richardson (58.96) was third.
Nguyen needed 2:08.01 to hold off WG’s Ryan McMahon (2:09.36) and take the 200 individual medley.Another top-three Liverpool sweep came in the 200 freestyle, where Richardson won in 1:56.13 over Will Allen (2:01.92) and Evan Kline (2:09.66). Allen got his own victory in the 500 freestyle in 5:49.71.
Cicero-North Syracuse is also heading to the sectional meet, having improved its overall record to 5-6 with back-to-back victories at the start of February.
Back on Feb. 1, the Northstars defeated Auburn 85-59, led by Connor Burke, who was first in the 100 freestyle in 57.71 seconds and also claimed the best time of 1:17.95 in the 100 breaststroke.
Seaver Schultz, second in the 200 IM in 2:08.24, had the quickest 100 backstroke time of 1:08.33 as Bruce Hepel, in 25.77 seconds, beat Josh Kubala (26.17) in the 50 freestyle and David Hill, with 158.45 points, edged Crispin Coombs (156.55) in diving.
John Harbaugh swam the 500 freestyle in 5:48.64 as Burke, Dom Bagozzi, Adam Rein and Jack Parrish went 2:06.41 in the 200 medley relay. Bagozzi, Hepel, Logan Petralia and Garrett Pitre won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.35 as Rein, Petralia, Tanner Dwyer and Dillon Johnson went 3:57.36 in the 400 freestyle relay.
C-NS followed by hosting Oswego Monday night at Le Moyne College and prevailing 95-89 over the Buccaneers, taking charge when Bagozzi, in 2:07.37, went 1-2-3 with Burke (2:11.13) and Dwyer (2:12.69) in the 200 freestyle.
Bagozzi also was first in the 500 freestyle in 5:49.50 ahead of Burke (5:57.60) and Pitre, with Petralia claiming the 50 freestyle in 23.63 seconds before Johnson swam the 100 backstroke in 1:06.83.
Harbaugh was second in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, with Petralia second in the 100 freestyle and Rein second in the 100 breaststroke. In the 200 medley relay, Harbaugh, Rein, Hepel and Petralia were second in 1:52 flat to Oswego’s 1:50.57.
Bagozzi, Harbaugh, Petralia and Hepel went 1:40.78 in the 200 freestyle relay, just behind the Bucs (1:39.51) as Johnson, Burke, Bagozzi and Dwyer swam the 400 freestyle relay in 3:57.18.
Then C-NS had its own meet with West Genesee Wednesday night and lost, 99-87, to the Wildcats, with Petralia the lone individual winner.
Petralia swam the 50 freestyle in 23.97 seconds and beat Schultz, 54.14 seconds to 54.63, in the 100 freestyle. He also paired with Harbaugh, Schultz and Hepel to claim the 200 freestyle relay in 1:38.12.
Elsewhere, Bagozzi was second in the 200 freestyle (2:07.19) and 500 freestyle (5:58.76), with Harbaugh second in the 100 butterfly in 1:03.48. Johnson took second in the 100 backstroke (1:07.03) and Rein was runner-up in the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.41.
